The Orlando Twins played almost flawless baseball Tuesday night in a 4-2 victory over the Greenville Braves in Southern League action.

''We have been hot and cold all year,'' Manager Charlie Manuel said. ''That's the way it has been.''

Against Greenville, the Twins' play was sizzling.

They led all the way, punching out nine hits. The defense was there, too, making several big plays.

It was the kind of performance that Manuel had been looking for. ''We have got 16 games left and we're 2 1/2 games out,'' he said. ''Right now we just have to take it game by game.''

Concentration certainly was no problem against the Braves. The Twins built a 2-0 lead in the second, increased it to 3-0 in the third and then held on after the Braves, on consecutive home runs, closed to 3-2 in the sixth.

Excellent relief pitching by Gorman Heimueller and the two defensive gems turned back the visitors.

In the eighth with the Twins leading, 3-2, Greenville put runners on first and second with none out. Manuel then turned to Heimueller, who came in for starter John Martin.

The Braves' threat was silenced quickly by two pickoffs. Catcher Sam Sorce caught Greenville's Glen Bockhorn off the bag at second. Moments later Heimueller picked Bob Tumpane off first.

Heimueller struck out Tom Hayes to end the inning.

''Those two back-to-back plays, I never expected that,'' Manuel said. ''And Heimueller came in and got us out of a jam.''

Heimueller faced just three batters in the ninth. After one out, Mike Knox reached on a single, but John Hatcher hit into a double play to end the game. The Twins got their runs in the second when Mark Funderburk (33 homers) started a rally with a single and scored when Mike Verkuilen doubled and the ball got by Braves' right fielder Leo Vargas.

Verkuilen scored on Greg Morhardt's grounder to first.

Orlando stretched the lead to 3-0 in the third when Alex Marte scored on a single by Funderburk.

Greenville's rally in the sixth was stunning. Bockhorn, the leadoff batter, hit a solo homer, followed by Tumpane's solo shot.

Martin, who got the victory, settled down, though, and got the next two batters on fly balls. Knox singled, but Martin got out of the inning by getting Hatcher to ground out.